Asian Drama

The 63rd work of NHK Taiga Drama depicts the life of Murasaki Shikibu, a Japanese female poet who wrote "Tale of Hikaru Genji". This story is set in the mid-Heian period.

(Source: nhk.or.jp)

Episodes: 40

Gohara Aura, a scout for the Yokohama Bay Golds, is caustic and self righteous but generally regarded as a hotshot. He flies around the country in search of hidden talent to pick the Draft King – the no. 1 among the players chosen for this year’s draft. Kamiki Ryosuke, a former professional player who is now a rookie scout, and the members of the scout division led by the empathetic Shimobe Rikuo engage in a heated discussion with Gohara in their effort to strengthen the team. Gohara’s arch-enemy Busujima Ryuji, a veteran scout for the Osaka White Tigers who would do anything to accomplish his goals, is also fired up to secure talented players and makes a secret move. Can Gohara and his colleagues find a diamond in the rough and pick the Draft King?

Adapted from the manga series "Draft King" (ドラフトキング) by Kuromatsu Tetsuro (クロマツテツロウ).

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Adapted from the manga "Choi Tsuri Dandy" (ちょい釣りダンディ) by Aki Ranta (阿鬼乱太).

In 1990, Hagizaki Tatsuo, the accounting department chief of Ukishima Electric Works, was busy negotiating on getting a loan together with Sekino, the company's general manager. However, just as they were about to get the funds, Sekino was involved in a 200 million yen fraud and he later disappeared with the loan. The company decides to cover up the incident to protect its image, but Hagizaki wants to get to the bottom of the matter with the help of his newspaper reporter friend, Muraki. Hagizaki later notices that the case becomes darker and darker as he continues to investigate. He then meets a beautiful woman, Uezaki Etsuko, whom he believes hold the key to the entire incident.

"Babel Kusaku" is a 5 story, 88 year old multi tenant building. Kusaku Mitsuhiro is the building's new managed. While dreaming of becoming a screenwriter, he gets lost in Babel where a false world where all dreams came true can be accessed. Like him, the tenants of Babel are all people who had to give up their dreams in the real world. Those who got lost, wish to stay at Babel forever. However, once you say the word "Babel", you can never return to the real world.

Based on the novel of the same name by Manabu Makime

Newspaper journalist Akiba Shunsuke is transferred to the cultural desk and put in charge of shogi. He meets Sanada Nobushige, a 33-year-old aiming to be a professional shogi player by achieving the rank of 4-dan or more. Sanada is over the age limit as he could not achieve 4-dan by the age of 26, and is now trying to take an exam for admission to 3-dan. Akiba supports Sanada's attempt to become a professional shogi player and becomes interested in the game...

Balsa and the crown prince Chagum travel together again. The young boy who survived because he was protected by Balsa, has gone through suffering and grown into a splendid crown prince. Balsa starts to expose the conspiracy that lies hidden deep in the bowels of her beautiful homeland of the Kingdom of Kambal. And then, Chagum stands up to the attack of the Talsh Empire which has targeted the New Yogo Empire. A natural disaster occurs that shakes the land. Gold birds flutter in the sky.

'I want to eat your pancreas' Yamauchi Sakura told Shiga Haruki while shelving books at the library. 12 years have passed Haruki, now a homeroom teacher at their old school, was asked to be in charge of the organization of the library collection. As he talks to his student, it made him look back on the days he spent with Sakura. Narrating the moment he picks up a diary, and discovers that his popular classmate is suffering from a pancreatic disease. Sakura decides to spend her remaining days with Haruki. Shiga being a loner initially refuses but slowly accepts Sakura into his life.

Adapted from the novel "I Want to Eat Your Pancreas" (君の膵臓をたべたい) by Sumino Yoru (住野よる) and illustrated by loundraw.

Hatoko (Mikako Tabe) goes back to her hometown of Kamakura for the first time in 8 years. She has inherited her grandmother's store "Tsubaki Stationery Store." The store actually functions to write beautiful letters on behalf of its clients. At first, Hatoko, being new to the business, seems like a rookie, but she begins to display her talent for writing letters. She gets more requests.

The 95th NHK Asadora is about Sumire, a girl born in the uptown of Kobe in the early Showa period. In the wake of wartime devastation, she works hard toward making children's clothes for a living, and later establishes a first-ever children's goods store in Japan. -- NHK

DRAMA

Set in the Obstetrics and Gynecology department of a university hospital. Hiragi Nachi is a reserved obstetrician, who is in her fifth year of working as a C-section surgeon in the maternity ward of the hospital. Because of a traumatic incident, she follows a philosophy of preserving life and would never abandon her patients even if it means taking on high risks. One night, while working the graveyard shift, Nachi performs a risky emergency cesarean section. However, when the patient dies from severe blood loss, the woman's family files a lawsuit against Nachi claiming malpractice.

Taro Sato (Yusuke Kamiji) has been poor all his life. Since the death of his wife, his situation has become even more desperate as he has to raise his three kids by himself and has no real marketable skills. So when he applies for a job that he doesn't expect to get, as a chauffeur to a rich young woman, he's surprised when he does. His employer is Alice (Aya Ueto), your usual spoiled rich kid. Her father is a hotel magnate and her mother a popular actress. She's never wanted for anything her whole life and expects to get everything she wants. She and Taro have nothing in common, and, at least in the beginning, all they do is get on each other's nerves.

Takeuchi Miharu (Maya Miki) is a capable lawyer with a law firm in Nagoya who gets to handle a divorce case assigned by their head Mizuno Toyohiko (Tachi Hiroshi). Gohara Naoki (Yoshizawa Hisashi), the president of the company, wants to divorce his wife Nobue (Kone Hana) who left their 5-year-old son behind and moved out. Nobue does not want to give up her child. The case seems to complicate Miharu because she had experienced divorce too and was deprived of custody of her daughter Kanae, who she has not seen in 10 years. She hesitantly starts working on the case but gradually gets absorbed in it.

While she is the husband’s attorney, the solution she offers reflects Nobue’s feelings. This offends the client company and the law firm’s advisory contract is terminated. She resigned.

Nobue arrives with the twin sisters. She believes they can count on Miharu who identified with her own divorce issues. Miharu does all in her power to try to pull the twins’ broken family together. She got convinced to start a divorce counselling centre. On the day of the opening of ‘Takeuchi Harumi Divorce Counselling Centre’, a young lady stares at the signboard of the centre with a surly expression. She is Miharu’s daughter, Kanae (Taketomi Seika), who is now an adult.

The suspenseful story follows an enthusiastic lawyer who becomes a nationally wanted man after being falsely accused of murder, arson, and embezzlement. He goes on the run, and while trying to hunt down the real criminal, he encounters various people and helps them with their troubles.

The Vancouver Asahi baseball team consists of 2nd generation Japanese immigrants living in Canada. They play within a local amateur baseball league. The team got popular due to their fair play spirit, while struggling to fight against discrimination and poverty in their everyday lives.

Reggie (Satoshi Tsumabuki) is a 2nd generation Japanese immigrant who works at a sawmill in Vancouver. He is the leader of the team and plays shortstop. Roy (Kazuya Kamenashi) is the team's ace pitcher and works at a fishery field. Kaye (Ryo Katsuji) is the team's 2nd baseman and co-worker of Reggie. Tom (Yusuke Kamiji) is the catcher and works at a tofu shop. Frank (Sosuke Ikematsu) works at a hotel and plays baseball with the team.

Reiji Kikukawa (Toma Ikuta), who has a strong sense of justice, graduated from the police academy with the lowest score ever. He becomes a police constable, but is suddenly fired by the Police Chief due to "disciplinary" issues. In actuality, the firing is part of a carefully orchestrated plan. Reiji is ordered to become a "mole," an undercover cop. His target is Shuho Todoroki, the boss of the Sukiyakai gang. The group is the largest crime group in the Kanto area. Masaya Hiura, who works as a young boss of a Sukiyakai affiliated gang likes Reiji. While going through various hardships, Reiji works his way towards Shuho Todoroki.

Shuzaburo Kusaka (Yuto Nakajima) is a junior high student attending a school which is due to close. He tries to learn despite the inept teachers and rowdy students. Toranosuke Sugi (Kamiji Yusuke) his homeroom teacher, is new and idealistic, unlike the other teachers. One day, Kusaka meets three boys, new students at the school: Tōichi Takasugi (Ryosuke Yamada), Eitarō Yoshida (Yuri Chinen), and Sugizō Irie (Daiki Arioka). They transfer to his class and work to change the ethos of the school.

Set in Abashiri, Hokkaido. Tsukasa (Keiko Kitagawa) got into a severe car accident when she was a high school student. She still suffers from the aftereffects of that accident, with memory impairment and needing to use a wheelchair. Nevertheless, she tries to live life to the fullest. Tsukasa then falls in love with taxi driver Masaki (Ryo Nishikido), who likes playing basketball. Even though they have various difficulties, they try to make a happy family together, but they encounter another serious situation.

In the year 1590, powerful daimyo Hideyoshi Toyotomi nears his plan to unify all of Japan, but he comes across a floating fortress known as Oshi Castle. Nagachika Narita, in charge of defending the castle, must use his army of 500 men to combat Toyotomi Hideyoshi's army of 20,000.

Nagasaku will play the part of Takako, a police detective and a single mother of a child who will soon turn 1 year old. She is described as “dirty” because she doesn’t mind taking bribes or leaking information if it is to her own advantage. The series depicts her battles with the child’s irresponsible father, her police colleagues who only think of protecting themselves, and the criminals in the cases she handles. Karina (27) will play a trainee detective whom Takako partners with.

Koyama Kazumi is a poor but optimistic college student who firmly believing that there are more important things than money. Despite his own poverty he ends up taking on other people's debts and faces various challenges to pay off those debts